₦airaland Forum

Ikoko30:
Pls can you kindly list mandatory documents you authenticated, legalised and translated for your application.

Lastly for your WAEC statement of result, was it sent directly to Spanish consulate?

Thanks

I handled the documents in three groups. My Birth Certificate, Police Character Certificate, and Medical Fitness Certificate were authenticated at MFA, legalized at the Spanish Embassy, and then sworn translated. My BSc degree went through Ministry of Education authentication first, then MFA, Embassy legalization and sworn translation.

My sponsorship letter was apostilled in the UK because my sponsor is based there, although that wasn’t strictly required, and I also had it sworn translated. The personal statement didn’t need authentication or legalization; I just translated it to Spanish using ChatGPT.

I didn’t submit WAEC. I used my BSc degree certificate, and I also had my university send my degree certificate and transcript directly to the Spanish Consulate before my appointment.

Also note that the Police Character Certificate and Medical Fitness Certificate expire after 3 months, so time your legalization and visa application carefully.

Ikoko30:
Wow that's amazing. Congrats to you.
Regarding the major cost, is the Insurance & Accommodation refundable incase of any refusal?

Probably the Spanish govt now want to be assure students can fund their living cost by them seeing a proof of entire course Accommodation payment.

Hopefully more visa approval comes in 💃.

Yes, it is refundable. I first confirmed with all the parties that they all have a refund policy in case of visa refusal before making payments and all.

I want to believe paying tuition, accommodation and all reduces the amount of scrutiny on the POF.

dreaH:
Congratulations brother, I'm also going to UAB

thank you. congratulations to you too. cheers

MadamShe:
Everything you mentioned, is exactly my story. My sister in the UK was my sponsor with over 36,000 pounds. Paid Everything that needed to be paid. I studied English Education and was going for Bilingual Education. Still i was refused on the basis of insufficient funds. Na God just favour you, because you never be too prepared. Congratulations, may Spain favour you 🙏

thank you, and I’m sorry about your experience. that’s exactly why I tried to make clear that I can’t know which part of my application actually influenced the decision and from what you’ve described, your application also sounds well prepared. I really hope you’re able to challenge the refusal successfully.

Hey guys, I submitted my Spain student visa application at BLS Lagos on 3 August and got my passport back today, 4 September. It was approved.

I thought I’d share a bit about my process because there isn’t much recent information on student visa applications from Nigeria. This is obviously just my own experience and not a guarantee that the same approach will work for everyone.

I’m a Computer Vision Engineer with over three years of professional experience, and I was admitted to the Master in Computer Vision at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). The programme is directly related to the work and research I’ve already been doing, so my study plan was quite easy to connect to my existing career.

One major issue I faced before the visa stage was document legalisation. When I initially contacted the Spanish Consulate for an appointment, I was given February 2027, which would have made it impossible to join the programme this year. After intervention from my university’s international office, the Consulate later moved my appointment forward to July, which allowed me to complete the legalisation and proceed with the visa application.

Before submitting my visa application, I tried to remove as much financial uncertainty as possible:

- I paid my full tuition fee.
- I paid for one full year of university accommodation.
- I obtained ASISA health insurance covering the full period of my stay.
- My brother, who lives and works in the UK, sponsored my living expenses and provided the required sponsorship and financial documents.

Before committing that much money, I first got confirmation from UAB that my tuition/enrolment payments would be refunded in the event of a documented visa refusal. I would recommend doing something similar where possible instead of paying large amounts without knowing the refund conditions.

My cover letter was also quite short and direct. I explained my professional background, why the Computer Vision programme was a natural continuation of what I already do, and why I specifically wanted this programme. I also mentioned that I had known about/followed the programme since 2023, so the application wasn’t something I had randomly decided on just for the purpose of travelling to Spain.

I can’t say which particular factor led to the approval, but my approach was to make the application as coherent as possible: relevant professional background → relevant master’s programme → recognised university → tuition and accommodation already secured → clear funding for living expenses → insurance covering the full stay.

My visa timeline:
- Application submitted: 3 August 2026
- Visa issued: 2 September 2026
- Passport dispatched: 3 September 2026
- Passport received: 4 September 2026
- Outcome: Approved

Some of my major costs were:
- Tuition: €4,867
- Accommodation: €6,276
- Insurance: €1,184

My main recommendation would be to build an application that makes sense as a whole. Get admitted into a legitimate programme that fits your academic/professional background, document your finances properly, and make sure the purpose of study is easy for whoever reviews the application to understand.

Hopefully this helps someone currently preparing their application. Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Ikoko30:
Thanks. For the legalization, roughly how much would it cost 6 documents.
Is legalisation per page or document

Legalization is around 68,000 naira per page (all my docs were 1 page each, though). Ensure your school sends your school certificate/transcripts to the embassy to avoid the 2-month investigation, which incurs an extra cost.

jahbenedict:
A senior colleague was at BLS on Monday for a business visa appointment. He said, they only accept manually stamped bank statements, i.e statements printed off by the bank and physically stamped. They rejected the emailed statements he got from his bank. Fortunately, both banks had branches nearby, so he was able to get the statements printed off and stamped.

Also the arrival and departure dates on your flight itinerary must match the dates of your hotel booking. He said people were asked to go back and rebook their hotels and flights.

They said to wait at least 20 days for the final visa decision.

Is this applicable only to non-study visas? I submitted the electronically signed statement, and it was accepted.

Ikoko30:
People needs to start looking somewhere else as this Spanish wahala many.

Resumption is January 2027 and they're giving February 2027 for legalisation of documents at Spanish embassy for customer who's booking as early as June 2026.

Email your school (perhaps their international office) -- they might be able to help. I also got Feb 2027 appointment. My school mailed the embassy, and they brought it forward to July 6.

Email your school (perhaps their international office) -- they might be able to help. I also got Feb 2027 appointment. My school mailed the embassy, and they brought it forward to July 6.